foakes
Senior Member
Our new to us last year — 2009 FF 189FBS — had a small 2” crack in the lower corner of the front window.
On our last boon-docking trip out to the Mojave Desert a couple of weeks ago — it got worse and traveled across the entire 48” X 18” window.
I just duct taped it on both sides — and intended to fix it when we returned home.
Called 2 local RV repair shops — one said that they could order a new window and frame — it would run $825 + tax, and 2 hours labor. So a little over $1000.
Other RV shop said that they would have a glass guy come by, remove the window, custom cut a piece of glass, and reinstall it. $350 + 2 hours labor — about $550 + tax. Trouble is, they said it would take about 2 weeks.
So I called around to glass shops myself. As soon as I said trailer (RV) — everyone said they could not do the job because they did not have the equipment for RV glass.
Knowing this was just grey tinted plate glass — I figured the best bet would be to remove the glass and framework myself — then take it to a local glass shop.
Did that yesterday — took it to one of the shops that said they could not do it — and after looking at it — decided they could do it.
Took 2 hours for the owner of the shop to remove the broken glass, clean off all of the adhesive, cut a new piece of glass, round the radius corners to fit, anneal and smooth the edges, reinstall and seal the new glass in the frame. Total materials and labor ran $218.75.
I reinstalled it today using Butyl putty tape, secured the inner ring to the outer ring using all the same screws, cut off the squeezed out Butyl tape, ran a bead of Silicone across the top and down the upper corners about 5 inches, reinstalled the privacy blind and the valence.
The “Fun finder” decal in front was cracked and ugly — ordered a new one a week ago on E-Bay for $25 and free shipping. Using a heat gun and some elbow grease and scrapers — got the old one off in about 30 minutes.
It all looks new now.
Best,
Fred
On our last boon-docking trip out to the Mojave Desert a couple of weeks ago — it got worse and traveled across the entire 48” X 18” window.
I just duct taped it on both sides — and intended to fix it when we returned home.
Called 2 local RV repair shops — one said that they could order a new window and frame — it would run $825 + tax, and 2 hours labor. So a little over $1000.
Other RV shop said that they would have a glass guy come by, remove the window, custom cut a piece of glass, and reinstall it. $350 + 2 hours labor — about $550 + tax. Trouble is, they said it would take about 2 weeks.
So I called around to glass shops myself. As soon as I said trailer (RV) — everyone said they could not do the job because they did not have the equipment for RV glass.
Knowing this was just grey tinted plate glass — I figured the best bet would be to remove the glass and framework myself — then take it to a local glass shop.
Did that yesterday — took it to one of the shops that said they could not do it — and after looking at it — decided they could do it.
Took 2 hours for the owner of the shop to remove the broken glass, clean off all of the adhesive, cut a new piece of glass, round the radius corners to fit, anneal and smooth the edges, reinstall and seal the new glass in the frame. Total materials and labor ran $218.75.
I reinstalled it today using Butyl putty tape, secured the inner ring to the outer ring using all the same screws, cut off the squeezed out Butyl tape, ran a bead of Silicone across the top and down the upper corners about 5 inches, reinstalled the privacy blind and the valence.
The “Fun finder” decal in front was cracked and ugly — ordered a new one a week ago on E-Bay for $25 and free shipping. Using a heat gun and some elbow grease and scrapers — got the old one off in about 30 minutes.
It all looks new now.
Best,
Fred
Attachments
-
17FB0B2D-FC52-4C67-8185-4E351C32AD7C.jpeg495.7 KB · Views: 12
-
DD92CD9D-EB39-4196-81BC-409032972BF0.jpeg404.2 KB · Views: 12
-
9678CA77-085D-4B25-B58F-A808D1A4E659.jpeg567 KB · Views: 15
-
39BA4616-57B5-402E-AC85-EC53E98DB499.jpeg509.9 KB · Views: 13
-
B253620A-D4DC-4F0A-BE4F-29148724887F.jpeg322.1 KB · Views: 17
-
0D2879F2-2D88-48A0-8801-FE1847AF03C3.jpeg657.1 KB · Views: 16
Last edited: